Anderson v. Willis

917 F. Supp. 2d 1190, 2013 WL 74314
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 7, 2013
DocketCase No. 11-2484-RDR
StatusPublished

This text of 917 F. Supp. 2d 1190 (Anderson v. Willis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Willis, 917 F. Supp. 2d 1190, 2013 WL 74314 (D. Kan. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RICHARD D. ROGERS, District Judge.

This is an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging a violation of plaintiffs Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable detention and excessive force while plaintiff was working as a private process server attempting to serve process upon the wife of an off-duty City of Atchison, Kansas police officer at her home. Plaintiff has named the following defendants in this case: the City of Atchison; Mike Wilson, the Chief of Police for the City of Atchison; Jon C. “Chris” Willis, the off-duty police officer; and Adam Bush, an Atchison police officer who was [1192]*1192called by Willis to the scene. This case is before the court upon defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Doc. No. 27.

I. Standards for summary judgment

Summary judgment is warranted if the materials on record show that there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” FED.CIV.P. 56(a). The court views “all of the facts in the light most favorable to the non-movant and reasonable inferences from the record must be drawn in favor of the nonmoving party.” Piercy v. Maketa, 480 F.3d 1192, 1197 (10th Cir.2007). From this viewpoint, the court attempts to determine whether a reasonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-moving party. Bones v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., 366 F.3d 869, 875 (10th Cir.2004). “While we view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, that party must still identify sufficient evidence requiring submission to the jury to survive summary judgment.” Piercy, 480 F.3d at 1197. In other words, the court may consider evidence produced by the moving party as well as the absence of admissible evidence in favor of an essential element of the non-moving party’s claim. Adams v. Am. Guar. & Liab. Ins. Co., 233 F.3d 1242, 1246 (10th Cir.2000).

II. Uncontroverted facts

The following factual recitation shall be treated as uncontroverted only for the purposes of the current motion before the court.

On April 1, 2011, at approximately 6:00 p.m., plaintiff arrived at the home of defendant Willis in Atchison, Kansas. Plaintiff was there to serve civil process upon Rusty Willis, the wife of defendant Willis. She was not home at that time. The civil process was related to a civil case filed in Johnson County state court in which Rusty Willis was a defendant. She was also the resident agent for another defendant in that case.

Plaintiff was dressed in a Polo shirt and blue jeans. He was carrying a FedEx delivery envelope with him, but he did not tell defendant Willis that he was a FedEx delivery employee or that he was there to serve Rusty Willis with civil process. He only said that he needed to make a personal delivery and asked when Willis’ wife would be home. Defendant Willis said that his wife would be home in about thirty minutes and asked if he could sign for whatever plaintiff was delivering. Plaintiff said that the delivery required Rusty Willis’ personal signature and said that he would come back later.

Plaintiff returned to his vehicle and was filling out paperwork when defendant Willis approached and again asked what he was delivering. Plaintiff responded that it was for Rusty Willis and that she would have to sign for it. Plaintiff drove away and attempted to serve process upon Sharon Baldridge (a relative of Rusty Willis) who was a defendant in the same case. She also was not home. Plaintiff returned to the Willis home sometime between 6:41 p.m. and 6:49 p.m. to again attempt to serve process upon Rusty Willis.

Defendant Willis answered the door. He was on the telephone to defendant Bush and requested Bush to come to the Willis home. Defendant Willis told plaintiff that he knew plaintiff was not a FedEx delivery person and demanded identification. Plaintiff refused to provide defendant Willis with identification. Willis told plaintiff for the first time that he was an off-duty police officer. He further stated that officers were on the way and that plaintiff was not leaving until the police arrived and he was positively identified. Plaintiff asked for defendant Willis to [1193]*1193show identification, but Willis refused. Plaintiff asked why he was being detained. Defendant Willis said that he wanted plaintiffs “information ran.” In a statement made after the events in question, defendant Willis stated that he was not going to let plaintiff leave until plaintiff could be positively identified and his purpose ascertained.

About this time, plaintiff noticed that defendant Willis was becoming irate and he backed onto the lawn of the Willis house. Plaintiff began to explain that he was not a FedEx delivery person and that he was there to serve civil process on Rusty Willis, which he attempted to show to defendant Willis. Defendant Willis told plaintiff that he could not trust plaintiff based on his actions and that plaintiff was not leaving until he showed identification and proof of his actions to the police. Plaintiff noticed that defendant Willis was holding a Glock semi-automatic pistol, which was his service weapon for the Atchison Police Department. Defendant Willis directed several profanities at plaintiff and told him that he had better pray to God that he didn’t have any warrants.

Then, defendant Bush arrived in uniform and on duty. When defendant Bush arrived, plaintiff told defendant Bush that plaintiff was armed with a firearm for which he had a concealed carry permit. Defendant Bush took possession of plaintiffs firearm. By 6:55 p.m., defendant Bush secured plaintiffs identification and contacted dispatch for a driver’s license check. Defendant Willis became extremely irate at plaintiff for bringing a firearm onto his property. He went into his house and returned again holding and waving his gun. He stated that he would or should kick plaintiffs ass and that plaintiff was lucky that he didn’t give plaintiff a “beat down,” indicating that he had done it before to others as defendant Bush could attest. Defendant Bush nodded “yes.” Plaintiff testified that he told defendant Bush on multiple occasions that plaintiff wanted to leave, but he was not allowed to leave. Defendant Willis told him that he couldn’t leave. According to a statement written by defendant Willis:

[Plaintiff] said that he was not looking for any trouble that he was trying to leave but I wouldn’t let him. I told him no, that he couldn’t leave. I explained to him that he was running around with a deadly weapon stalking an elementary school teacher [Rusty Willis] and being purposefully deceptivef — ]that he couldn’t leave because I am a lot better at my job than he is at his. I was not going to let him leave until we had him positively identified and made sure he was not a threat.

Doc. No. 28-3 at p. 7.

The background check came back clean at 7:02 p.m. and defendant Bush asked what plaintiffs purpose was. Plaintiff said that he was there to serve process and showed defendant Bush the court documents.

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Bluebook (online)
917 F. Supp. 2d 1190, 2013 WL 74314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-willis-ksd-2013.